Baby-jumper.



No."7 3'7,176. PATENTED AUG. 25, 1903,

. T. M. VAUGHAN.

BABY JUMPER.

' APPLIUATIOH Hum M11. '22, 1903.

no MODEL.

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PATENTED AUG. 25, 1903. T. M. VAUGHAN.

BABY JUMPER. APPLIUATION FILED JAN. 22, 1903.

I0 IODEL.

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Q. STAT S 'iatented August 25, I P T T; OFFICE,

THOMAS M. VAUGHAN, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, ASSIGNOR TO HERMANN- VAUGHAN MANUFAGTURIN G COMPANY, OF INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA, A

CORPORATION OF INDIANA.

BABY-JU M PER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 737,176, dated August 25, 1903.

Application filed January 22, 1903. Serial No 140,097. (No model.)

T at whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS M. VAUGHAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Indianapolis, in the county of Marion and State of Indiana, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in a Combined Baby- Jumper and Rocking-Chair, of which the following is a specification.

This invention combines in a single article ID that which may be alternately used as a babyjumper and a rocking-chair.

The object of the invention is to provide portable supports for the device when used as a jumper, which may be readily carried I 5 from place to place and which may be folded into small compass for transportation or for storage when not in use.

Another object of the invention is to provide a chair to be used in the jumper which to will be adjustable so that the occupant may be changed from an upright sitting position to a reclining one without causing the seat to tilt oblique to the horizontal in adjusting the changed center of gravity of said occupant. The object is to provide an adjustable and removable foot-support which will adjust itself automatically by the adjustment of the back of the chair; and still another object is to adj ustably fit a tray to the chair, said tray 0 also forming a guard for preventing the child from getting out of the jumper or chair, and said tray being so adjustable that it may be folded back out of the Way to allow the child to be seated or removed from the chair or to 3 5 be out of the way of a large child.

I accomplish the objects of'the invention by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in 'Which Figure 1 is a perspective view of my improved baby-jumper with the chair in position to cause the child to sit upright; Fig. 2, a longitudinal vertical section inside of the near frame of the chair, and Fig. 3 a detail in side view of one member of the portable supporting-frame in folded-position. I

Like characters of reference indicate like parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

4t 4 are the standards of a portable support- 13 are connected with the standards by means ing-frame. These have the cross-bars 5 5 bolted to them, the ends of which bars project laterally of said standards. 6 6 6 6 are legs which are hinged to the ends of said bars 5 5, so as to be folded up against the standards in the manner shown in Fig. 3 when the standards are not in use or lowered into the diagonal positions shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The diagonal positions are retained by the bars7 7, which are bolted at their middles to the ends of the standards and have their ends removably secured to said legs by suitable bolts having the wing-nuts 8 for convenience of manipulation. The tops of the standards are connected by the two diagonal brace-bars 9 9, which are preferably riveted together at their intersections and are connected by bolts having the wing-nuts 10 to the standards.

I will now describe the chair in which the child is seated and then the manner in which the chair is suspended from said brace-bars of the standards. V

The chair used is in the form of an infants rocking-chair, comprising four standards 11, suitable rockers 12, attached to the lower ends thereof, longitudinal braces 13, arranged at the level of the seat, and horizontal braces 14: at the tops of the standards, forming the arms of the chair. The rockers and the braces So of the rounds 15, which extend transversely of the chair. These rounds are preferably iron rods having outside ornamental knobs 16. The back of the chair comprises a separate frame having side bars 17 and connecting-rods 18, to which is permanently secured a perforated board' orback 19. The lower ends of the side bars 17 are pivotally secured to the top rear round 15, and the tops of the rear standards 11 are connected, by means of the links 20,with the side bars 17. The back may be rocked upon its pivotal connection with the chairsframeg but in changing its position it will draw the standards through links 20 out of their vertical position. making the chair-frame rigid the further adjustment of the attached back will be prevented,'and this means of rendering the frame rigid is supplied through the diagonal bracebars 21, which are pivotally secured at their upper ends to the upper ends of the front standards l1 and are secured at or near their lower ends to the longitudinal braces 13 by means of bolts having wing-nuts 22. The lower portions of braces 21 have longitudinal slots 23 to allow for necessary play of the lower bolts in the changed positions of the frame when the back of the chair is lowered. 24: is the chair-seat, which is secured to and is supported by the upper chair-rounds 15.

25 is the slatted foot-rest. The slats,which are preferably of wood, are secured to metal straps 26 26, the inner ends of which are bent upwardly and over to form books, which are hooked around the front rounds 15, as shown in Fig. 2. The inner slat 27, as shown best in Fig. 1, projects at its ends into contact with the front standards 11 of the chair, and by reason of such contact the foot-rest will be automatically raised or lowered as the chair-back is lowered or raised.

28 and 29 are suspension-bars, which are secured at or near their lower ends to the horizontal braces 14. at the ends of; the latter and connected at their upper ends above the child by a cross-bar 30, having transverse perforations in which are received the lower hooked ends of two or more coiled springs 31. The jumper is supported upon these springs, and these springs are in turn supported by the brace-bars 9 9, which have perforations to receive the upper hooked ends of the springs. The attachment of the suspension-bars and the bars 14 is by means of bolts having wingnuts, whereby the chair is readily detached from the suspension-bars, so as to be used independently as a rocking-chair.

The tray 32 is provided with the horizontal bars 33 33, which are bent upwardly at their ends and are pivotally secured to the rear suspension-bars 29. The tray is thrown up out of the way into the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 2 for convenience in placing the child in the chair or taking it therefrom or when the chair is to be occupied by a child so large that the tray would be in the way. When the tray is down in operative position, it is supported by resting upon the arms let, and it is locked in that position by the elbows 34:,formed in the front suspensionbars 28. There is spring enough in a lateral direction of the bars and frame to release the tray from the elbows when it is desired to raise the tray.

When the chair is in use as a baby-jumper and the back of the chair is thrown back, as shown in dotted lines, the change in the disposition of the weight of the body of the child would cause the seat to swing forward and tip up at its forward end, producing an unhealthy and uncomfortable position for the child; but with my construction the lowering of the back compels a forward movement of the seat, which carries the occupants body forward in right proportion to preserve the equilibrium without an appreciable swinging of the chair from its original position.

The construction above described affords a very simple and attractive baby-jumper, which will render the care of a child easy, as it can be left with safety in the jumper and its own activity will serve to keep the jumper in motion.

The construction described is susceptible of various changes in form, proportion, and minor details, which may be resorted to without departing from the spirit or sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim as new, and wish to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A baby-jumper chair comprising a chairframe having front and rear standards, horizontal braces connecting said standards longitudinally of the chair and rounds connecting them transversely of the chair, a back pivotally connected to the chair-frame whereby when the angular position of the back is changed the angle of the standards will be correspondingly changed, and a foot-rest pivotally secured to a front round of the chair and having a laterally-extended bottom portion which bears by the weight of the footrest against the said front standards whereby the angular change in position of said standards will change the position of the foot-rest.

2. In a baby-jumper, a portable support, a chair comprising a frame having standards and horizontal braces, suspension-rods attached to said frame at their lower ends, a bar to which the upper ends of the said rods are fastened, springs connecting the said bar with the portable support, and a tray and guard resting on the uppermost of the horizontal braces of the frame when in use, bars fastened to said tray at their front ends and pivotally secured at their rear ends to the rear of said suspension-rods whereby when the tray is raised on said pivots it will be raised clear of the head of the child that may be occupying the chair.

3. A combined baby-jumper and chair consisting of a chair-frame having front and rear standards extended above the seat, horizontal longitudinal braces connecting the standards, a back pivotally connected to the chairframe at or near the plane of the seat, links connecting the tops of the rear longitudinal braces with the back, diagonal braces pivoted at their upper ends to the front ends of the horizontal arm-braces and at their lower ends to the horizontal seat-braces whereby the angle of the chair-back may be changed, said braces having longitudinal slots to allow adjustment of the lower pivots, suspensionrods attached to the sides of the chair-frame in pairs having an upper cross-bar, springs connected to the cross-bar and to a suitable support.

4E. The combination with the chair-frame, comprising the horizontal longitudinal braces forming the arms of the chair, of pairs of suspension-rods attached to the frame at the ends of the said braces, the front rods having bends to form locking-elbows, a tray supported by the arms when in use having bars which extend back and are pivotally secured to the rear suspension-rods, the ends of the tray being caught under the locking-elbows when in use and being adapted to be removed and replaced by springing said braces and arms apart.

5. A portable folding supporting-frame for baby-jumpers comprising standards, a pair of diagonally-crossed bars detachably connected to the upper ends of saidstandards, a pair of legs for each of said standards pivotally (3011- I 5 nected to a barwhich is fastened to a standard and a locking-bar below the first the ends of which are removably secured to the pair of legs. A

In witness whereof I have hereunto set my. 20 hand and seal, at Indianapolis, Indiana, this 17th day of January, A. D. 1903.

THOMAS M. VAUGHAN. [L. s]

Witnesses:

J. A. MINTURN, J. G. HERMANN. 

